ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
219 
Conduction of Water.* * * § — Pursuing liis investigations on this subject, 
Herr T. Bokorny finds that, in the case of Myriophyllum proserpinacoides , 
air and water are always present in the scalariform and spiral vessels of 
the vascular bundles. In addition to the vessels, the conduction of water 
appears to take place mainly through the outer and collenchymatous por- 
tion of the bast, but chiefly through the former. Experiments with iron- 
salts show that in this case the course of the ascent of water is through 
the wall of the vessels. 
By the same method of investigation the same author f demonstrates 
that in Rumex longifolius and other species of the order, the transpira- 
tion-current passes through the cell-walls of the collenchymatous tissue 
of the leaf-stalk to the transpiring lamina of the leaf, and with a rapidity 
of not less than 1 metre per hour. The collenchymatous tissue is here 
distinguished by the great elongation of its cells. 
Herr Bokorny J further defends himself from the charge that he does 
not assign to plants any tissue with the special function of conducting 
water ; what he does maintain is that there is no tissue which has 
always and exclusively this function in all plants. 
(3) Irritability. 
Sensitiveness of Plants to certain Salts.§ — M. G. Ville points out 
that the sensitiveness of plants to certain salts may be used as a test 
for the presence of these latter. That the test is a delicate one may be 
easily inferred from the results obtained by the author in various 
plants with phosphate of lime. 
Beer yeast gave very astonishing results, the presence of 0*0005 
gr, dissolved in 1 litre being easily seen from its results on the growth 
of the yeast. Analogous results were obtained from experiments made 
with peas and wheat. 
The experiments show the value of phosphate of lime as a manure 
or a necessary nutriment for perfect development, but their use as a test 
for this salt seems rather doubtful. 
(4) Chemical Changes (including Respiration and Fermentation). 
Physiology of Woody Plants. || — Hr. A. Fischer finds that in summer 
the vessels of many dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous trees and the 
tracheids of conifers exhibit a decided glucose-reaction, while in about 
the same number the reaction is very slight or altogether wanting ; the 
glucose does not occur in the wood-fibres. Dwarf shrubs and herbs 
contain no glucose in their stem, root, or leaf-stalks. In the winter 
the quantity of glucose sensibly diminishes, increasing again in the 
spring during the period of blossoming. The quantity of starch in trees 
shows one maximum in the autumn when the leaves begin to fall ; after 
the fall of the leaves it decreases, reaching a minimum in the winter ; it 
is formed again in the early spring, reaching a maximum about April, 
and then again decreasing, to be stored up again in the summer. In the 
* Jahrb. f. Wiss. Bot. (Pringsheim), xxi. (1890) pp. 505-19. Cf. this Journal, 
1890, p. 484. f Biol. Centralbl., x. (1890) pp. 321-3. 
X Bot. Ztg., xlviii. (1890) pp. 493-5. 
§ Comptes Rendus, cxi. (1890) pp. 158-61. 
|| Jabrb. f. Wiss. Bot. (Pringsheim), xxii. (1890) pp. 73-160. 
